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Did you ever consider those wonderful days when your car won't start? If you left your lights, radio, or some other electrical gizmo on after you parked the car, you know what the trouble is: Your battery is dead. Of course, there are other possible reasons that your car won't start.

Won't-start symptoms

Your car may not start for a number of reasons. The following list outlines the most common circumstances and tells you what action you can take to try to remedy each situation:

The car is silent when you turn the key in the ignition. Check the battery terminal cable connections. (See How to Check Your Car Battery.) If they look very corroded, force the point of a screwdriver (with an insulated or wooden handle) between the connector and the terminal post and twist it to lodge it firmly. Then try to start the engine. If it starts, you need to clean or replace your cables.

The car makes a clicking noise but won't start. This sound usually means a dead battery. If not, check the wiring to and from the starter for a loose connection.

The car cranks over but won't start. Check the fuel supply to your engine. If that's okay, check whether the electrical spark is getting to your spark plugs.

The engine starts but dies. If your car has a carburetor, check your carburetor adjustment and your choke to see whether the choke is first closing and then opening. If you have fuel injection, you'll need professional help.

The car won't start on rainy days. Check inside the distributor cap for dampness. If you find moisture, get some mechanic's solvent from your friendly service station — they use it to clean car parts — or buy an aerosol can of it at an auto supply store. To evaporate any dampness inside the distributor cap, turn the cap upside down and pour or spray some solvent into it. Swish it around and pour it out. Then dry the cap as best you can with a clean, lint-free rag and replace the cap.

Use only clean solvent; even a tiny speck of dirt can foul the points. Gasoline won't do because a spark can ignite gasoline fumes and cause an explosion or a fire.

The car won't start on cold mornings. For vehicles with carburetors,check the choke. Is it closed? Does it open? If you have fuel injection, you'll need to have a professional diagnose the cold-start problems.

The engine misses while idling. Check the points (if your car has a non-electronic distributor) and the spark plugs. (How to Remove Old Spark Plugs explains getting bad spark plugs gone.) Also check the fuel pump, fuel filter, and carburetor, if you have one. (If your fuel filter’s the problem, check out How to Change Your Vehicle’s Fuel Filter.)

The engine misses or hesitates during acceleration. Check the accelerator pump in the carburetor (if equipped), the spark plugs, the distributor, and the timing.

The engine knocks or pings. Check your timing; also check the octane rating of the fuel you're using. The owner's manual can tell you whether your vehicle needs regular unleaded or premium gasoline. Check the cooling system. (which The Essentials of Checking and Maintaining Your Vehicle’s Cooling System explains) Do a compression check on the engine cylinders. (Check out How to Check an Engine’s Cylinder Compression.)

Jumping a start

To safely jump a start, follow these steps:

1. Take out your jumper cables.

It's a good idea to buy a set of jumper cables and keep them in the trunk compartment. If you don't have jumper cables, you'll have to find a Good Samaritan who not only is willing to assist you but has jumper cables as well.

2. Place both cars in Park or Neutral, with their ignitions shut off and their emergency brakes on.

3. Remove the caps from both batteries (unless they're sealed).
Batteries produce explosive hydrogen gas, and a spark could set it off. If the caps are open, you can avoid such an explosion. (Sealed batteries have safety valves.)

4. Connect the cables.

The positive cable has red clips at either end, and the negative cable has black clips. It's important to attach them in the proper order:

1. First, attach one of the red clips to the positive terminal of your battery (it has "POS" or "+" on it, or it's bigger than the negative terminal).

2. Attach the other red clip to the positive terminal of the GS's car.

3. Attach one of the black clips to the negative terminal on the GS's battery.

4. Attach the last black clip to an unpainted metal surface on your car that isn't near the carburetor (if your car has one) or battery.

5. Try to start your vehicle.

If it won't start, make sure that the cables are properly connected and have the GS run his or her engine for five minutes. Then try to start your car again. If it still won't start, your battery may be beyond help.

6. Disconnect the cables, thank the Good Samaritan, and resume your life.

Don't shut off your engine; drive around for a while to recharge your battery.

If your alternator light stays on or the gauge on the dashboard continues to point to "Discharge" after your car's been running, make sure that your fan belt is tight enough to run your alternator properly. If your battery keeps going dead, have a professional check both the battery and your alternator.

In any case, never drive around with a light or gauge that reads "Trouble"; have it checked out immediately — that's why those gauges are in there!

Tyre pressure is not determined by the size or the type of the tyre but by the vehicles load and the speed that is the driving application.

The vehicles load-

This is also known as towing. The loads exert an extra pressure on the tyres. In a fully loaded vehicle with luggage and passengers, the general rule is add 28kpa or 4lbs of loads.

High speed-

The high speed is defined as driving at a speed of 120km/ h for every hour. Double tyre wear is experienced when one drives at 70- 80 km/ h. Under-inflation of tyres reduces the lifespan of the tyres by 30%. The tyres should not be inflated above 40psi or 280 kPa because when the tyres get hot the pressure increases too.

How do you find out the tyre pressure for your car?

To establish the suitable tyre pressure for your car consult the manufacturers tyre placard. The placard is found in the glove box, drivers door sill, under the bonnet or in the glove box.

The placard also displays the manufacturers recommended sizes of tyres.

When should the tyre pressure be checked?

The tyre pressure increases as the tyre becomes hot implying that the pressure of the tyre should be checked when cold. Obtain the cold readings and compare them with the recommended tyre pressure on the placard.

Tyre pressure and environmental impacts-

Regularly checking your tyre pressure can help us to be more environmentally friendly. Under- inflated tyres generate more rolling resistance which is translated to higher fuel consumption. Proper tyre inflation would help to maximize the vehicles fuel economy hence minimizing on its effects on the environment.

Tyre care-

Regular check on air pressure. It is recommended that the checks be on a weekly basis, at the time when the tyres are cold and use a gauge for accuracy.

Many car owners today are finding success selling their cars online thanks to the many opportunities to find buyers. In the past you were mainly limited to local classified ads in newspapers, but today you have so many options for selling your car onlineselling your car online that you are sure to get top dollar.

There are several online options that help you sell your car fast. First there are paid websites where you have access to tens of thousands of online car shoppers. Secondly you have plenty of websites that offer free ads placements where you can submit a large amount of photos. Actually some of these websites are very well known and attracts thousands of people wanting to buy cars every single day.

Don't just slap up a car ad and expect it to sell right away. You should really take time to do proper research such as what is the appropriate price to sell it for, which pictures look best, what type of text should you use in order to make the car sound more appealing and are you willing to negotiate. These are important matters that you should take into account beforehand, so when someone calls you about the car you can give them concrete answers.

It always pays to be honest otherwise you will have a hard time selling the car. If you are honest upfront in your ad or when the speak to you on the phone, people will have more trust in you when it comes time to actually look at the car. If you mislead people they will not even want to look at the car and will go someplace else.

If you are inexperienced at selling a car make sure you look at your local DMV website on how to do it, get the proper forms and also read plenty of articles about private car sales. This way you know how the process works and will sound confident when discussing the sale with a potential buyer. They might not be familiar with buying a car from a private buyer so if you show that you know what you're doing then more than likely they will trust you.

Look at other online car ads to get a good idea of how you should present yours. It really is simple since it should be about showing the car in the best light. Make sure you have a way for the person to contact you and be available to answer any questions honestly should they inquire about the car.

The simple process of online car selling has made it much easier for people to come together in order to quickly complete the transaction.

In today's dynamic trucking industry, a GPS tracking system allows the company to get a real-time, pinpointed view of the location and condition of every vehicle, no matter where the are.

While it is important for the dispatcher to know where all of the vehicles are geographically, there is much more in the way of information that can be very helpful, if not vital to a more profitable and efficient deliver of the truck's contents.

A GPS tracking system tracks and monitors vehicles by satellite which will display whether the truck is moving or static, and many other types of information as well. The system can also monitor such items as fuel efficiency, time of travel, length of time of stops, routing of vehicles if there are incidents of trouble or accidents along the way, and mechanical details of importance.

By utilizing up-to-date dispatcher to driver communications, the driver can see a map of an assigned route with voice communication in most instances. If there is a hazard ahead, the system can alert the driver, and offer an alternative route. This can help save time and provides a safer situation for the driver and the shipment.

The system can also offer a totally electronic logging system to eliminate paperwork and keep track of the driver's mandatory rest periods and miles driven in order to meet the new compliance requirements.

TIGTrack's GPS fleet reporting also offers a composite of the entire fleet of truck in a real-time environment so that everything that is going on in the entire fleet. Everything from vehicle diagnosics, arrival-departure times per vehicle, vehicle maintenance reports, time carding solutions, PTO and non-PTO reports, speeding reports and many other types of data that are pertinent to an efficient and well-run fleet.

Accountability can be enhanced with historic playback features which cannot lie as they are created from real time monitoring conditions. Either a driver is speeding or he is not. Either he is driving in a safe manner or he is not.

Reports can be scheduled for specific times so that different managers and fleet consultants can view them a a prearranged time so they can be evaluated as a team and the analysis can be broken down to the point when the team is together.

There is no doubt that knowledge is power when it comes to running an efficient and profitable trucking business, and a good GPS tracking system is a big help in making that happen.

What are usually the various advantages of buying a pre-owned vehicle versus a brand new automobile?

Now comes the time for you to purchase a brand new automobile and you may be wondering whether or not it is advisable to get a pre-owned automobile or a brand new one. While 100% brand new vehicles
have their particular charm there are actually more than a few benefits of purchasing a second-hand vehicle. For the most part vehicle salesmen will attempt to sell you a new car as they get more
commissions especially when it is a top of the line model.

Nevertheless, you should always inspect a variety of pre-owned vehicles to pick from as you are carefully thinking about buying a new car. Even before we evaluate the plus factors of buying used
automobiles it really is of great importance to bring up the most important detail that you have to bear in mind is which is exactly how the automobile has been taken care of before. You want to
get an automobile that was previously owned by someone that has a history of caring for the vehicle so you know it was in good hands previsouly.

The first advantage of picking a used vehicle is the fact that you will save a lot of money. Though most people typically don't realize it, the difference, on average, when it comes to a second-hand
and a 100% brand new car is a whopping $20,000. Nowadays where most individuals don't possess that type of cash to squander, it is unnecessary to pay out that kind of cash specially when it is easy
to take advantage of exactly the same benefits with a second-hand vehicle.

While it's true that the interest levels on used automobiles are larger what you need to understand is it's not by much. On a new automobile you would get more or less 4% while on a used automobile you'd get roughly 4.99%.

A second-hand car obviously has a track record that shows that a person has used it and that it functions well. If you get a maintenance record to indicate that the car was actually maintained on a regular basis you're okay.

A used vehicle has much less depreciation than a brand new vehicle. As soon as a car sells and is driven off the lot, it will instantaneously lose nearly 25 percent of its value. That's a large amount of money if you really give it some thought. In case you get a pre-owned car, on the other hand, it will eventually go down in value although not as dramatically. In case you sell it again after some time you're going to collect nearly all of your cash back.

You do not pay for taxes when it comes to used automobiles whatsoever. This is a detail that lots of states don't give emphasis to. Learn just how much tax you need to pay out on a used car within your very own state and see how much money you're going to be keeping in your bank account rather than paying out of pocket.

The typical registration costs for brand new vehicles is very high initially and then goes down every year. In the case you buy a pre-owned car you would not shell out that much in registration costs and they will go down year after year.

When you buy a used vehicle you're actually getting many accessories that you just do not have to have. Car dealers are wise and they wish to get the most money out of you. Generally, they do that simply by adding features to brand new vehicles and charging you extra for these things. You actually should not pay additional for stuff that you just generally don't require which would lower your overall costs
out of pocket. If you are in need of a dealership you can rely on with no gimmicks, the trustworthy Elkhart used cars dealer, Lochmandy Motors is the place to visit.

Think again before buying a 100% brand new automobile as a used automobile will get you there just as fast and for far less money.